Image sensor technology is widely used in a variety of imaging applications ranging from high-end digital camera technology to low-end cameras embedded in mobile phones. The two main types of image sensors most common to these imaging applications are charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensors and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors, each of which has limitations for a given imaging application. A CMOS image sensor contains a photodiode formed on silicon through an implant process which is highly-sensitive to defect formation within a crystalline substrate used to form the photodiode, thus driving a need for mechanisms to repair defects formed within the photodiode.